mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Mitch McGary

I just spoke with Coles father. He was very excited about the McGary news. He expressed that he feels bad for McGary and that "unfortunate situation" but he is excited for Cole to get that offer. He spoke with coach Jordan for about an hour last night and coach Jordan told him what we all assumed which is that with McGary out, Cole will have an offer regardless of what Aubrey Dawkins decides (it appears Cole was in line for an offer anyway if Dawkins committed to Dayton).

I told him that Cole seems like the prototypical John Belien player and he told me that Coach Jordan said Cole is what the coaching staff looks for and calls "80/40 guys." That's 80 percent from the line and 40 from 3. Coles dad expressed how it's hard not to get excited just seeing that block M with all the tradition behind it.

Coles dad said that they have only been in contact with coach Jordan and haven't heard from Belien directly yet but they understood that was because they were still not sure if Cole was getting an offer until very recently. As we know, Michigan told him they only offer in person but he will get his offer when he visits which he will now be scheduling.

There are a few other tidbits about each school and coach that I am not sure he would be ok with me sharing so I will keep those to myself but I would not expect him to commit until he has taken all 4 visits.

This part is pure speculation but after talking to Coles dad, I would say Michigan is a slight favorite once they offer.

Also, Roger is going with Cole on his visits so the updates will be sparse since he will only be at work a handful of days for the next couple of weeks.

Edit:

I said this in a comment below but I thought it should go here as well. Cole does not have any interest in aquiring a waiver to play immediately. He wants to take the year to get in the wieght room and put on weight/increase his vertical, etc. Coach Sanderson is a big reason why he is interested in Michigan and I did a good deal of talking up the strength and conditioning program to Coles dad.

I'll also add that Coles dad seems really excited about the prospect of Cole going to Michigan and I think I can say with some confidence that if it were up to him, Cole would definitely end up there.

Mitch McGary took a deep breath. He wanted to tell the story of why he smoked marijuana one night in March, why the NCAA suspended him for a year because of it and why the confluence of those events is helping lead him to declare for June's NBA draft. It wasn't easy, so he started at the beginning. For months, McGary had struggled to come to terms with the back injury that limited him to just eight games for the University of Michigan this season, none after mid-December.

"My family and I want to thank everyone for giving us privacy and the time to make this decision," said McGary. "As you know, it was important for us to weigh all the factors that go into something like this. With that being said, I am ready to move on to the next stage in my life and enter the NBA Draft. "Being a part of a program that values integrity, it is important to let everyone know of a poor decision I recently made. I tested positive for marijuana during the NCAA Tournament. We were notified of that result after the Final Four. I regret thoroughly disappointing my family, coaches and administration. Despite all of this they have been understanding and helpful over the last couple of weeks. "I take full responsibility for this poor choice and want to apologize to everyone, especially those I have grown close to during my fabulous two years at the University of Michigan. "I love the University of Michigan and all it has allowed me to do. I have had my ups and downs, especially with my injury this season. I want to thank all the fans for embracing me. This has been the best two years of my life and I have some unbelievable memories. I know that I will be a Wolverine forever. Go Blue."

I mentioned in the last Cole Huff thread that I work with his father at a High School in Inglewood. He stands outside my classroom between each class period and we talk basketball so I have a fairly good relationship for aquiring inside info in this case. I just spoke with him an gathered some valuable intel.

Cole "won" his appeal to Nevada's blocked schools. They unblocked 5 schools: Pepperdine, San Diego State, UCLA, USC and I think Santa Barbara. Cole is not interested in USC because he does not like their coaches (there was a situation with one of their assistants when Cole was a senior in high school that has soured him to that staff). The only one of those schools that he is really interested in is UCLA. He is still waiting to hear from them. His former AAU coach told him on Saturday that UCLA wanted to do an in home visit today or tomorrow but he has not heard anything since. IF UCLA offers, they will be the favorite.

The current favorite is Iowa. Cole and his dad are planning a visit and have very strong interest. Creighton has been pushing hard and he likes them as well but they seem to be behind Iowa.

It does not sound like Michigan has acctually given commitable offers to Cole or Byron Wesly just yet. Cole's dad told me that Belien is only really interested in the two of them if McGary decided to leave and the coaching staff is still waiting on that decision (from the sound of it the Mitch is still genuinely undecided). It was somewhat unclear if Huff and Wesley were only interested in Michigan if McGary left or if Michigan was only interested in them in McGary's gone. Either way, those two are only in the fold if McGary is not. I realize that that doesn't really make sense since they would have to sit out a year and McGary is likely gone after next year either way, but that is the information I was given. Maybe with MAAR's commitment they don't have the scholarship to offer but I was under the impression that they still had one spot open.

I will try to gather more information and clear up some of the ambiguities in the post after the next class period ends.

I thought about using a more provocative title, given my opinion on this, but no reason to troll on an already bad news day:

I think McGary is gone. Not based on draft stock, but on tea leaf logic. Consider:

Horford already knows McGary's decision, but Mitch hasn't announced yet. Why wouldn't he announce right away if he were coming back? Horford says his choice had nothing to do with Mitch's decision.

GRIII appears to have made his choice. And, if reports are accurate, it is to leave. Now, it has been thought that GRIII and Mitch are a package deal. Maybe or maybe not, but it seems like they are/were trying to reveal the news together.

Even if that is not explicitly the case, though, wouldn't he be more likely to leave if McGary left? GRIII wants to play (and, importantly, defend) the small forward position. That has always been difficult in Beilein's system, but it's impossible if McGary leaves--GRIII would be guaranteed to play the 4 for the entire season.

I could be wrong and I hope I am. Mitch has much more to gain by coming back than GRIII did, and not as much to lose. But this all makes lots of sense if Mitch is leaving.